Sunday, May 20, 2012

Rebekah Brooks and her husband, Charlie, have been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the phone-hacking inquiry....In a third charge, Mr and Mrs Brooks, Mr Hanna, Mr Edwards and Mr Jorsling are accused of conspiring to conceal documents....

The ongoing trial in the Kuala Lumpur High Court began in August 2011. At the start of the trial, PwC's Senior Partners decided to conceal 162 sensitive e-mails, letters and documents, and in fact manipulated matters so that there was no Discovery of Documents before the trial.

This concealment of documents became untenable when other parties, including us, the Group of Six, received evidence from certain PwC insiders, which was hitherto hidden. As the pressure to reveal the full truth became unbearable, PwC Malaysia was ordered by PwC International to reveal what had been hidden from the courts and the counter parties in the lawsuit.

The documents were revealed in January 2012, and with its addition, we have a body of evidence that paint a clear picture of the litany of misdeeds and fraudulent behaviour by PwC over the years; more than enough for a bestseller or two.

What interests us at the moment is the difference we see in how the concealment of documents is handled in Malaysia, when compared to other Commonwealth countries.

In the News of the World phone hacking probe, we see how it's Editor, Rebekah Brooks and other key executives are charged in the Westminster Magistrates' Court with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, with the third charge relating to the conspiracy to conceal documents. This relentless pursuit of justice happens even though the Brook's are close friends of British PM David Cameron.

﻿ But the same situation is not seen in Malaysia, even though we are modelled after the English Justice System.

We have instead, PwC running riot over the KL High Court rules, and even using fabricated documents while they were hiding the real documents in the trial.

In any other country, PwC's Senior partners would have been charged in court by now, and not even David Cameron would have been able to give them a "Get Out of Jail Free" pass.

﻿

Faiz Azmi and Sridharan Nair, if the Courts did charge your Senior Partners with conspiracy to conceal documents, will you find the corridors of your office strangely silent, with not a creature stirring?